fascination
by rokihiko
Summary: it was a mutual relationship of learning and understanding each other. drabbles, gaasaku.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: I've been having a hard time trying to find some gaasaku fics that were to my liking, so with a word generator I find myself with fifty different prompts. A fic mostly to help myself grasp my otp's characters and to simply make myself feel better, because what else is better than cute otp fluff? Post war!au, following the popular headcanon in which Sakura moves to Sunagakure to help out their medical system.

will be posted in five parts, holding ten prompts each.

fascination: it was a mutual relationship of learning and understanding each other. drabbles, gaasaku.

/

i. simple

Tsunade had brought up the proposal when Team 7 just returned from one of their missions. Sakura stood in the center as Naruto and Sasuke respectively at each of her sides (they were clad in black and purple bruises, inflicted by each other and which Sakura had refused to heal), she was a bit astonished that she had been filed for continuous missions. The two beside her fidgeted uneasily, seeing as they did not have the same treatment. Her mentor cleared her throat, and rolled open the scroll and began to speak:

"Your assignment is rather simple, Sakura. If you give your consent, you are to leave for our allied Sunagakure and manage their medical system."

ii. reasons

Sakura had been more than willing to agree, seeing the opportunity as an amazing opportunity. Despite her eagerness, her team mates thought otherwise. They tried to reason with her, telling her she was better off staying in Konoha (which was a gigantic lie. Sakura was more than that, they just didn't want to let her go).

Naruto proposes that they should escort their kunoichi to the Sand. It hasn't even been more than a year since the war, and since Sasuke's return. Sakura was distant from him at first, but Naruto had tried his best to rekindle their past bonds. Up until now, the three of them were placed on missions together solely for making up for lost time. Despite not showing his disgruntled attitude towards this whole idea, Naruto knew he was rather against Sakura leaving. But Sakura deserved so much better than what she already had.

As they reach Sunagakure, he sees the Kazekage along with several councilmen and his siblings. For some reason, all the tense feelings he's been having wash away when he sees Gaara stand proudly in front of the crowds, eyeing them as they near. Usually, Naruto would have argued and continuously begged Sakura to rethink her decision, but he realized. This was for her, and all he wanted was her happiness.

He eyes Sasuke and smiles sadly, nodding his head. Sasuke is still unsure about the idea, but Sakura turns around to them and flashes them a warm grin, running up to them and giving them both an equally warm hug. She mutters a quick thank you and waves off, running towards the Sand people.

_That _was why they need to let her do this; her bliss was everything to them.

iii. burnt

Sakura stands in front of him, handing her first batch of reports in regards to the hospital and overall system from her first week. Gaara notices she's sun kissed, a bit redder than usual. He takes the scrolls from her and sees her winces as she tries to move her arms. He tries hard not to smirk, and writes a small note to tell Temari to help the mednin with her skin problems.

iv. avocado

Gaara tells her it's more ideal for her to live with him and his siblings instead of her having to pay out her own apartment. She's a bit reluctant at first, but she quickly settles in their compound. From then on, he finds their house to gradually be splashed with bits of colour.

He and his siblings are not home often enough to appreciate it all as a whole, but Sakura has slowly been leaving traces of herself around their house. Gaara finds himself standing in the middle of the hallway, eyes widened softly as he looks at his sister. His sister's face is clad in green, and Gaara sighs. Even to his sister's face, she makes a mark (Temari is groaning as she explains this amazing facial product Sakura has lent her, he and Kankurou could care less. What was in that stuff anyways?)

v. flush

She hasn't been lingering around the house long enough for Gaara to see her whatsoever. It worries him briefly, and his siblings simply say that she's just really busy with the hospital work. He decides to visit the institute, barging in with no consent as flabbergasted nurses and patients bow in awe as they witness their Kazekage stride through.

He walks into her office, and she doesn't realize he's standing by her. She's completely engrossed in her readings that a neighbouring nurse has to notify her of her… _visitor_. Startling Sakura, she mutters something naughty under her breath, but she turns to see him. Gaara notices she's not being victim by the sun anymore, but he does see that her face is dripping with exhaustion.

And the fact her face has become a darker shade of pink than her hair.

vi. citizen

Sakura learns almost every single one of her patients. She remembers them, and when she's walking in town she makes sure she waves and says hello to familiar faces. She doesn't understand why some teenage girls give her death menacing glares as she's walking home or to office to give Gaara her reports.

vii. homemade

Gaara finds that his siblings like to be at home, to be around each other, since Sakura has come. Gaara himself enjoys these moments (if not perturbed by heavy paperwork and council meetings). He even finds that they're eating more meals together. Temari was never the cook, instead Sakura has been doing majority of the culinary around the house (letting Temari _help_ but Kankurou makes sure she's far from the stove when it really starts). Gaara realizes she fits perfectly, that she's brought them together and making them more into a family than they've ever had.

viii. guts

He isn't there to witness it, but he's filling out paper work when his brother barrels through his office door with a look of exasperation on his face. He looks up momentarily, as his brother tries to catch his breath.

"Sakurahadtodothisreallyimportantsurgery—" the tattoo clad man takes another big inhale of air "andsheliterallywasholding THE GUY'S INTESTINES OUT IN THE OPEN! IT WAS SO FUCKING GROSS." Kankurou sputters, falling to his knees still out of breath.

Indeed it was a graphic image to imagine the usual clean kunoichi to be covered in blood, but Gaara doesn't see what's wrong.

ix. reach

Gaara often exchanges mail with Naruto. In the past, Naruto has written a lot about the kunoichi who now resides with him. Naruto always explained how important she was to him, and how much she changed him. Gaara doesn't really understand what he means, and asks the fellow jinchuuriki if it was like their own friendship. Naruto doesn't respond directly, rather says he'll find out.

Before he has time to take out a new piece of parchment and a new brush, Sakura knocks at his door and welcomes herself in with a tray of assorted dishes with a shy smile on her face.

"You haven't eaten right? Temari and Kankurou told me you have a pretty rough workload…" With steady steps, she sits in front of his desk and places the tray onto her lap, tilting her head as she looks at him. "I help Lady Tsunade with her paperwork all the time—"blinking, she laughs softly "Well, if you want my help I mean". Gaara stares at the medical nin, and closes his eyes with contentment.

x. killjoy

With Sakura's help, Temari has been able to gradually cook more dishes. She gives her first dish to Kankurou who takes it (with a threatening glare from Sakura across the kitchen), and grins happily at his sister (even if it feels like acid has been poured down his throat). Gaara chooses to come into the kitchen, and before anyone has a chance to even move he deadpans at his sister and grumbles out a low;

"No."


	2. Chapter 2

a/n: thank you so much for reviews! They really are sweet I really appreciate it. I'm enjoying writing these a lot, I think I'll do a bit more than 50 haha! Well I don't know, let's see how interesting things get and how willing I am to continue writing these drabbles. If you have a neat prompt I could write about, that'd be wicked cool if you could give me a shout out c:

now that I'm further in, I realize these drabbles are rather gaaracentric! Despite they're based off prompts, they kind of follow chronologically.

xi. authority

He overhears her complaining to his older brother about how some of the senior medics of the hospital had not been respecting her, nor following her orders. She says she does not want to get on their bad side, while losing her temper and potentially losing some great medics for the hospital.

Instead the Kazekage visits these medics and tells them himself to respect Haruno Sakura. (Sakura comes to work the next morning wondering why they give her coffee and offer to take more work from her than usual).

xii. tactics

Gaara finds that paperwork isn't as dreadful when there's an extra set of hands. Especially how Sakura never fails to surprise him by giving him suggestions over his shoulder that would be more ideal than whatever he had come up with.

xiii. mad

The first time he sees her genuinely mad is when he witnesses Sakura launching his brother from one end of the village to the other with the mere contact of her fist. Gaara doesn't think he's ever seen someone get launched that far (in the village, he means), watching his brother fly by as Sakura angrily blow some stray bangs out of her face.

Later he learns that Kankurou had tried to set Sakura up on a blind date with a fellow ninja, and Gaara gives him the usual dry look. What Kankurou doesn't realize is that sand has bonded his legs onto the floor, and he falls over in defeat (whining loudly, "_What the heck?! Not you too?! It was an innocent gesture! What does it have to do with you-" _more sand binds his brother to the floor)

xiv. fighter

Supposedly Sakura's day off and resting from overstressing at work and overusing her chakra in the hospital, Gaara gets a note from the local dojos around the town notifying the Kazekage that the kunoichi had been sparring with all of them (and absolutely destroying them). He resists the urge to chuckle, seeing how her take on stress relief is far different than he imagined.

xv. defection

He gets a knock on his office door, grunting in reply, he expects it's either his siblings or Sakura. Instead, he's both pleased and mildly phased as he sees Naruto and Sasuke stride into room clad in the Konoha flak jackets. Naruto flashes him a grin, and he nods in reply. His eyes trail to the Uchiha, not really sure _what _he thinks of him. Sasuke has caused him more than enough trouble in his past, but seeing how much Naruto trusts him makes him think otherwise despite how much terror he's caused before.

The three of them make small talk, most of the conversations driven by Naruto has he's ecstatic having two of his closest friends around him. Gaara attempts to understand Sasuke by examining his overall reflexes and reactions. Yet, if he wears the Konoha flak jacket and a head protector it means the Godaime Hokage has also accepted him back. Gaara contemplates on his own resolve as the door of the office opens again.

Sakura is holding his usual lunch on a tray, which is unfortunately dropped on the floor as she sees who's inside.

"What on earth are you guys doing here?!" The kunoichi sputters, and her two team mates smile back at her. She runs into them with hugs and kisses them on their cheeks, laughing happily.

Gaara watches the scene of affection with a tense body, not really understanding. He doesn't understand why Sakura accepts him as open as she does, despite knowing all the suffering he's given her.

When they leave, Gaara thinks as to when Sakura had ever forgiven him for what he's done to her in the past. (The answer is lost and will probably not be answered, but Gaara still thinks).

xvi. popular

Gaara isn't oblivious to his fans, but he doesn't _rudely _reject nor accept them either. He kind of appreciates their dedication, but not to the point where they follow him around and constantly gaze at him when they're supposed to be listening carefully. His siblings tease him a bit too much about the want to be _girlfriends _for him, but he's never really cared about such things. Rather, he treats them rather platonically.

But he's never seen this many flowers at once.

Abundances of flowers overflowed their kitchen counter, a whole variety of flowers all dyed different colours spread across the small room. Gaara finds himself in the field of bouquets, a bit confused. Knowing they weren't for him (there weren't that many places to get flowers in Sunagakure, which caused him to be more curious), he briefly wonders if they were from Naruto or Sasuke.

As if on cue, the two boys come into the picture carrying more bouquets of flowers. Sakura comes along with them, holding a fair amount herself and Gaara puts the pieces together.

_Oh. _They were for her.

"Jeez Sakura-chan, who knew you tended that rich dude's son! He looked like any other guy to me, who knew he was loaded enough to buy you all of this…" Naruto mumbles as he tries not to step on some flowers on the ground, setting the ones in his hands on top of others. Sasuke mirrors him, frowning.

"This is extremely unnecessary though. You only treated a broken leg and a pulled bone in his arm," The Uchiha eyes the kunoichi as she laughs. Sakura is kneeling down and arranging some stray flowers into her hand, weaving them together.

"I guess, but I'm not really complaining. Maybe I will take up his offer for dinner." Sakura laughs, finishing tying the flower necklace and drapes it over her shoulders.

Naruto eyes widen and Sasuke tenses as they look at Sakura (They sense Gaara's chakra going haywire in response, quickly moving out of the house with Sakura in tow before anything else can happen).

Gaara will definitely have to see who this _rich dude's son _is, who on earth can just drop thousands of flowers in his kitchen?! (He fails to miss the real reason why his sand wraps around the flowers dangerously).

xvii. heat

It was Naruto and Sasuke's last day in Sunagakure, only here to check up on Sakura and send him some personal packages (The Godaime Hokage had sent him a private message saying that Naruto would not stop complaining and whining until she approved of the trip to Sunagakure, explaining how there wasn't actually a purpose behind their trip). The sun had been more brutal than usual, Naruto and Sasuke find themselves in the Sand Siblings compound lying tiredly underneath some shade(They refused to stay somewhere else, Gaara more than happily complied though). The two of them had fallen into a small nap.

Suddenly, there was girlish screaming and fast footsteps that whirled them awake to find Sakura standing proudly in front of them with a giant water gun and a wide grin spread across her face. She quickly sprays her team mates with the high pressure water and laughs, turning around as Kankurou (without his paint, almost no one could recognize him) blasted her with his own water gun, causing Sakura to burst into a fit of laughter, falling down. Naruto gets up, rubbing the water off his face and growls, running towards Sakura to tickle her due to his lack of water power.

Kankurou throws each boy a water gun and the war starts. Temari comes home and is about to yell at them for making a mess in the backyard before she is hit dead on by Sakura.

Gaara is the last one to arrive, he does directly join them (he doesn't particularly enjoy being pelleted by water for the mere _fun of it_) but watches them carefully. His siblings and the infamous team 7 were not ready for a water fight, all clad in their uniforms. The two from Konoha had already stripped off their shirts, and his siblings had rolled up their sleeves and pants, staying conservative.

Sakura dug her weapon into the ground by her feet, reaching down to pull at her shirt. Almost immediately, a dome of sand covered the kunoichi. Naruto looked around and saw Gaara, frowning, shooting a quick shot of water towards the Kazekage. Gaara made little effort to toss some sand at the incoming shot, thickening his sand as it fell to the ground.

The dome fell down, as Sakura had managed to already twist the water out of her shirt. She spares a glance towards Gaara and flashes a smile as a thank you. He blinks in reply, nodding (Temari throws Sakura an extra shirt as Kankurou smirks towards his brother. Naruto and Sasuke shoot Kankurou with excessive force).

xviii. aroma

They're sitting together at his desk filling out some mission documents and who knows what is on the Kazekage's desk. Sakura has happily said that the hospital work has been going well, that most medics that were under her training had reached to her standard and could easily work without her being around. She found herself in his office, reading over the scrolls that piled in the room.

There used to be a wide space that separated the both of them, Sakura used to choose to do her work at the other side of the desk where she would avoid hitting her hand against his. It was the complete opposite now. She sat beside him, their thighs almost touching as she skims through the mission reports he's received, sorting out the ones she can do on her own and the ones he has to look over. Gaara realizes that she's been slowly inching closer to him as time progresses, he notices the small details about her.

He notices how pale she really is, how elegant and long her fingers are (they're always filed perfectly, he adds), how long her hair is getting, how she likes to cross her left leg over her right, how bites her lip when she's reading her fiftieth scroll, and how she smells _really good_. He tightens the grip around his pencil, realizing that's something awkward for him to think about, but holy crap she really does. He would have thought she would probably smell like flowers, or maybe even faint medicines. Gaara attempts to think of something else, but she's so close to him that it invades him. It isn't that different, it was a mix of clean laundry with a dash of vanilla. It was _hypnotizing_. He closes his eyes, and decides to enjoy the moment of peace between them (even if he felt like she was all _over _him).

xix. sunrise

She gets a message from the Godaime Hokage, asking her to take a quick break from her duties in the Sand to take an undercover mission in the Land of Spring. There had been another message for Gaara, briefly explaining that only Sakura was capable of doing said mission, hence leaving him no choice to let the kunoichi go.

Before dawn, she stands in front of him at the border of the village, double checking if she has everything ready. Gaara stares at her, wondering if he should say something to her. He thinks about his options, figuring out that she doesn't need the luck or protection (because she's _perfectly_ fine of doing that herself), and instead holds out his hand. Sakura blinks, smiling, taking his hand into hers and shaking it firmly—and pulls him close to her in an embrace.

Gaara's eyes widen, her hands wrap around his back, in the small of his gourd and rests her head briefly on his shoulder. As quickly as it happened, she pulls away.

"I'll be back before you know it!" He stares at her, thoughts of replying out the window as he takes a mental picture of her. The sky was painted with warm hues, making her radiate. She grins at him, and takes off.

xx. crash

He's in the middle of a council meeting when his sister barges in. The elders are enraged with her informality, but she's breathing heavily gripping tightly at the paper in her hands. Gaara stares at her as Temari steadies her breath and posture in front of the council. Her eyes defy her look, filled with worry and fear.

"Miss. Haruno, Sakura has been ambushed by a group of rogue ninjas. She was outnumbered—and was captured by that same group—" Gaara immediately vanishes in a puff of sand as Temari wastes no time and followed him, leaving the group of Elders confused.


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: hahaha man I come back quite often don't i. well if you're wondering why update time is so short is because I actually have written most of these down already? And tbqh i live and breathe a gaasaku life and think about them all the time, writing for them comes to me so quickly q_q. anyways, thank you again for what sweet reviews! I hope you enjoy this update.

I realize that I ADORE writing about them spending time at home. I feel like the sand siblings really cherish time together? And always make time for it, sorry if it sounded kind of weird considering Gaara's position. I might stray OOC from here, I am trying my best to remain ic though, bear with me!

xxi. patience

He stands by her hospital bed, her frail body bandaged heavily as tubes poke almost every joint she has (Gaara doesn't understand the processes, but doesn't argue). They told him that she had probably put up a fight, and that was the reason why she was unconscious now. She probably overexerted herself, and Gaara stares blankly at the kunoichi that was once full of life.

He closes his eyes, knowing she is strong, that she is more than capable of overcoming this (she's gone through so much more, he knows, he tells himself, he _reassures _himself). He hasn't felt like this in a long time, and decides to pull a chair beside her bed and close his eyes in meditation, clearing his mind.

xxii. lightning

She's dismissed from the hospital a week later, tending a broken leg as she tows around a crutch. She smiles, and laughs, her demeanour back to normal. Gaara stare at her as she staggers around the house, and realizes that it's all a lie (but he doesn't know what to do about it, so he just stays quiet). Every time she smiles brightly, it fades into a small frown; her brows would knit as her shoulders would sag. It is Sakura, but at the same time it isn't.

Gaara never much one to sleep anyway, stays up in his quarters reading over some scrolls before he tries to meditate (instead of sleeping, he meditates in attempt to rest. He used to be able to snatch bits and pieces of rests, but since Sakura's incident the nightmares have plagued him once more). A flash of light sparks through the window, and Gaara is a bit surprised to realize that it might rain. Rain was extremely uncommon in the sand, but so were the screams.

_Screams? _Gaara turns around, replaying the last few moments in his mind as he tries to rethink of what he really witnessed. As if on cue, another flash of lights flashes in the sky as he hears desperate screams. Gaara immediately stands and heads towards Sakura's room.

He barges in without knocking, seeing the kunoichi has thrown aside all covers and is grasping her pink hair aggressively between her knuckles. She's breathing heavily, and her broken leg lies limp aside. Perspiration sticks to her pale skin as she shivers, eyes widen with fear. Gaara shuts the door behind him before striding toward her, kneeling in front of her and peers into her eyes with a steady gaze.

He doesn't say anything but he reaches out to take her hands into his own, gently prying each of fingers from their grip and relaxes them. Her breath quickens and her teeth start to clatter. He doesn't really know what to do; consolation has never been his forte. He finds that waking Temari would be a hassle he is not willing to take, and massages her hands gently. Gaara continues to watch her to see if her expression would change, which it does. Sakura's face softens, but she remains overall rigid. It was as if she was still caught in her nightmare.

"I… I thought I was over lightning…" She smiles at him bitterly, eyes still wide as he stops caressing her hands, simply holding them (she was ice cold and he surprisingly warm, he tightens his grip allowing his warmth to seep through). She bites her lip hesitantly, then closes her eyes. The action confuses the Kazekage, but he doesn't question.

"I was never really afraid of it before, you know?" She mumbles, he stays quiet knowing it is not the appropriate time to be talking back. "Not until, I— he, almost…" Slow tears form in between her lashes, as his eyes quickly rub them away.

"Don't force yourself." Is all he says, and she immediately calms. With his hands on her cheeks, she gives him a warm smile.

"Thank you." And he stays with her until she falls asleep.

xxiii. controversial

Sakura recovers quickly after that, but it isn't only news that's been spreading across the village. She's beside their Kazekage more often than she used to, limping beside him as he makes his daily tours around the village, as he walks back and forth between the compound and the office. Some point out that it isn't out of the ordinary that the Konoha kunoichi has always been around the Kazekage ever since she was positioned in the Sand. Others (mainly teenage girls) point out that she's been _closer _to him, to the point that some accuse Sakura for even _touching_ his arm or even _holding_ his hand at one point or another.

Kankurou presents this information to his brother with a suspicious eyebrow raise; Gaara simply stares back at him blankly.

xxiv. messiah

She returns back to work, deciding to leave the crutch and stagger her way around. The other staff worry for her, and Sakura angrily bites back that she's fine, that she's not helpless and can move herself. Sakura ends up being placed in her office, reading more documents than actual hand on hand actions. If she could move with more ease, she would have made her point clear with her fist, but her leg had screamed in reply.

When her shift is over, Sakura tries to leave the building. She forgets then and there, that there are _stairs_. Deciding it's a good idea to try out to see if she's capable of going down stairs (her leg has been resting up…). Sakura takes a few solid and firm steps, getting confident.

As quickly as her confidence grew, it slowly faded as her foot misses the step and slides past the edge. She quickly curses under her breath reaching out toward a railing to try and break her fall and potentially making her state any worse.

Instead she finds herself in the arms of the young Kazekage, he's frowning at her as he sets her down. Sakura blinks; she didn't even realize he was around. He continues to frown, shaking his head.

"Don't be so reckless, Haruno-san." He states, and fizzes away with his sand.

xxv. name

He realizes that calling her by her first name is intimate, but he stares at her wondering how it's like. How it's like to be close to the kunoichi, close enough to be able to call her by her given name. He tests it out, whispering it softly in a hushed whisper, testing how it feels across his tongue.

She turns around, eyes widening as she smiles. "What's up, Gaara?"

xxvi. paintings

He catches her resting in their living room; leg propped to avoid any extra stress as she's surrounded by pads and papers from sketchbooks. Her face is calm, serene, as she flips carefully through the album she has in her hands, smiling softly as she does. She traces her hands across the inked paintings, but from this angle Gaara isn't quite sure what's drawn in said books.

He approaches her but does not make contact, simply continues to watch her relish in peace. Most of the images were created with black ink, but there lay small splashes of colour further highlighting and making them stand out. Even if Gaara remains silent, Sakura speaks up;

"Before I left, Sai told me he'd give me a few sketchbooks, just because." The kunoichi chuckles softly, it was even a surprise to her when he had offered, but being a big fan of his art she had more than happily complied. "He's never really been one to be so open about his … personal art, but I'm glad he's taken the step." Her smile grows wider, flipping a page and holding up a portrait of her.

Gaara does not know much of the painter on Team Kakashi. He's heard much about him from both Naruto, and now Sakura. He doesn't know what to think of him, but looking at the way he paints Sakura makes his stomach clench.

xxvii. flowers

The flowers from the man Sakura had tended still continue arriving, but have gradually decreased recently. Sakura has been making the effort to hand out little bouquets to villagers as she would make her rounds across the town. Now, she sits on the floor (now fully healed, finally back to her warm radiant self) with his siblings, teaching them how to weave flowers.

Temari was a natural, Sakura assumed while visiting Shikamaru, Ino had probably toyed around with some flowers in attempt to bond with the older Suna kunoichi. Kankurou had no problem with weaving the stems, but had failed to be wary of the petals that fell sadly to his sides. Sakura had leaned over beside him, helping him loop the flowers all while preserving their beauty.

Gaara comes home much later, to find his siblings still weaving flowers but around Sakura's body. There were several crowns atop of her head and around her shoulders, through her hair and around her arms, and even on her stomach. Temari is smiling gently, softly adjusting a crown in her own hair before leaving the room. Kankurou pushes himself off the ground with a soft grunt before walking towards his brother.

"The Konoha Princess needs a kiss to wake her from her eternal slumber, oh humble prince!" He jokes, laughing softly in attempt to remain quiet as the kunoichi sleeps. He rubs his brother's shoulder affectionately and leaves as well, stifling a yawn.

The young Kazekage pulls off a crown from her hair (barely bothering her in her slumber), and holds it in his hands. He brings it to his lips, kissing the delicate petals with a gentle touch before he drops the ring around her once more.

xxviii. reality

"Haruno-san has done such a wonderful job with the hospital. Not only has she managed on re-establishing a more rock foundation for research, she was more than capable of teaching our _entire_ medical department from scratch to become such amazing medics."

"Despite how much we've grown to like the kunoichi, she is not one of us and must return. Lady Tsunade, Godaime Hokage has notified us saying that Miss Haruno is slowly becoming more wanted for Leaf missions, and we should not restrain her here."

xxix. caress

She sits in front of him for the last time, carefully pouring him some tea and slides it towards him as he continues to work. Sakura watches him sadly; she had gotten so used to being in this environment, to following her routine of being around the said Kazekage.

She would be lying if she said she would not miss the Sand. Of course, it wasn't home and it was both hot and uncomfortable in terms of temperature, yet the allied village had found a spot in her heart. Sakura inhales softly, thinking of her accomplishments as she stayed in the Sand; the establishment and reformation of the medical system, her bonds with her nurses and doctors, her quirky moments with Temari and Kankurou, and the Kazekage.

Sakura isn't sure what she shares with the Kazekage. She's sure they're friends, but at times it feels like more, yet all the while it can also feel like they have nothing at all. As she watches him glide a brush over a scroll effortlessly, Sakura gets up from her seat to leave. She hasn't finished packing, and her departure is coming close.

As she closes the door behind him, she feels an odd sensation around her hand. Bringing her hand to her face, she notices that sand has entwined itself around her fingers and palm. A bit startled at first, she quickly understands. She turns around and opens the office door once again and runs inside.

xxx. serenity

It was inevitable, she was foreign and had a job to do in this village, and she had it fulfilled. She doesn't belong here, yet he felt greed and had wanted her to stay. She had brought so much life to this place, and he wanted to linger in her light and warmth for just a bit longer (or maybe even more). He doesn't understand, he wants to know why, he wants to learn.

She comes back through the door, and the young Kazekage looks up. Her pale face is flushed, and she's biting her lip with doubt. He stares at her, seeing his sand twirl around her wrist and arm. Usually a threat, it had looked like a tender wrap of affection. He doesn't really know what to do, but suddenly he finds himself standing in front of her.

Sakura breathes in, clenching her fists tightly as she tries to scrape for words to say. Instead, she looks at him, unable to really read what he's feeling. She reaches for his face, hesitantly, and takes it between her hands. Sakura feels fear at first. She remembers how hostile he once was, how he had almost taken her life away. Yet here he stands, still an enigma but rather a lost one.

Gaara tenses at the foreign touch, but jade eyes stare at her face calmly. It's weird, he's usually inept to such physical contact but he finds himself slowly easing in her hold. He doesn't understand what there is to the kunoichi, the kunoichi that he once thought was weak, the kunoichi that was so protected by his best friend, the kunoichi who could mend yet destroy, the kunoichi that he wanted to learn that made him act so differently.

Sakura catches a glimpse of confusion in his eyes, and she smiles. Maybe she could stay, even for just a little bit longer, to fully unravel the mystery behind the Kazekage.


End file.
